RAWALPINDI: A few spells of rain in twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad could not improve water level in Rawal and Khanpur dams and the civic body had warned that if the situation did not improve in coming days the water shortage would aggravate.

The Pakistan Meteorological Department had issued four weather advisories in June and July with forecast of heavy rains in the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad and adjoining areas .

These spells did not increase water level in the dams where less than two months water is available. The civic bodies officials said heavy rain in the coming days was a must to fill the dams otherwise the shortage of water will further increase.

They said that once the dams arefilled in monsoon it would cater to next six months water needs.

They said the heavy rains would also recharge the underground water level in the garrison city. At present, the daily requirement of the Rawalpindi city is 71 million gallons daily (MGD) and the agency was providing 54 MGD to the residents leaving a shortage of 17 MGD.

They said that due to climate change, the weather in the Potohar region had disturbed as this year, there was no pre-monsoon rains occurred. Otherwise, they said that the pre-monsoon rains and monsoon spells improved the water supply to the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

“Rawal Dam –the main water reservoir of the garrison city- is still 44 feet below its filling capacity but it is expected it will be filled if the rains occurred in the coming days,” said Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) spokesman Umer Farooq.

He said water had not increased in Rawal Dam after few spells of rain recently. He said that at present, water level is 1708 feet and the filling capacity of the dam is 1752 feet. He said that 25 million gallon daily (MGD) water is being supplied to Rawalpindi through Rawal Dam.

However, he said that the recent spell of rains hardly made any impact on water level at Khanpur Dam as it was recorded at 1944 feet while the filling capacity of the dam is 1982.

Published in Dawn, July 9th, 2024